The Panther
Registered User
I know the pre-Gretzky and Gretzky-era Kings made some odd trades... I know it! For example, young Larry Murphy traded for Houston and Engblom. The 1988 rumored (confirmed?) trade of Robitaille for Ron Hextall (thankfully didn't happen). Gretzky's best buddy and 150-point Bernie Nicholls for Granato and Tomas I'm-Never-Healthy Sandstrom. The eventual trading and re-acquiring (twice) of Robitaille. Trading McSorley in August '93 and then re-acquiring him in Jan. '94 for the same player, while also giving away Sandstrom for basically nothing on top (yes they did that).
But the January 1993 trade takes the cake! To remind you:
Jimmy Carson, with Marc Potvin and Gary Shuchuk, traded by Detroit to Los Angeles for Paul Coffey, Sylvain Couturier and Jim Hiller.
This has always baffled me. Since the accompanying players never really did anything with their new teams (and likely weren't really expected to do much, even at the time) the trade really boils down to Carson for Coffey. There is just no way I can understand this.
For Detroit, then still coached by Bryan Murray, it makes perfect sense. Their top-offensive D at the time was Steve Chiasson (nobody knowing yet how good Lidstrom would be offensively), and they wanted a top blue-liner to play with Yzerman and Fedorov, etc., on the power-play. Done!! They were already starting to get stacked offensively and certainly didn't need Jimmy Carson.
For L.A....? They'd only acquired Coffey at the end of the preceding season, so he hadn't even played one full season for them yet. 1992-93 was the year Gretzky nearly missed the season, and was rushed back into action in January ahead of schedule. You might argue -- 'well, they needed a center to replace Gretzky!' Okay, but they'd already got Jari Kurri playing center (and rather well, at that) for half a season before this trade was made. Also, if that was the logic, why didn't they pull the deal 4 months earlier when it was clear Gretzky would miss serious time? The Kings started that season surprisingly well, but were slowing down by January. The Kings' record was 24-21-5 at the moment the trade was done. They were in the playoffs then, and would have made it in had they just continued at that pace.
At the time, Coffey had scored 57 points in 50 games and was a solid 'plus' player five-on-five. Gretzky had just come back to the line-up, and had played only 10 games with Coffey when the trade occurred. Meanwhile, Carson had scored a solid 25 goals in 51 games with Detroit, by far his best place in 4 years. But the Kings were an offensive powerhouse and simply did not need more soft and streak-scoring forwards.
I can't wrap my head around it...
But the January 1993 trade takes the cake! To remind you:
Jimmy Carson, with Marc Potvin and Gary Shuchuk, traded by Detroit to Los Angeles for Paul Coffey, Sylvain Couturier and Jim Hiller.
This has always baffled me. Since the accompanying players never really did anything with their new teams (and likely weren't really expected to do much, even at the time) the trade really boils down to Carson for Coffey. There is just no way I can understand this.
For Detroit, then still coached by Bryan Murray, it makes perfect sense. Their top-offensive D at the time was Steve Chiasson (nobody knowing yet how good Lidstrom would be offensively), and they wanted a top blue-liner to play with Yzerman and Fedorov, etc., on the power-play. Done!! They were already starting to get stacked offensively and certainly didn't need Jimmy Carson.
For L.A....? They'd only acquired Coffey at the end of the preceding season, so he hadn't even played one full season for them yet. 1992-93 was the year Gretzky nearly missed the season, and was rushed back into action in January ahead of schedule. You might argue -- 'well, they needed a center to replace Gretzky!' Okay, but they'd already got Jari Kurri playing center (and rather well, at that) for half a season before this trade was made. Also, if that was the logic, why didn't they pull the deal 4 months earlier when it was clear Gretzky would miss serious time? The Kings started that season surprisingly well, but were slowing down by January. The Kings' record was 24-21-5 at the moment the trade was done. They were in the playoffs then, and would have made it in had they just continued at that pace.
At the time, Coffey had scored 57 points in 50 games and was a solid 'plus' player five-on-five. Gretzky had just come back to the line-up, and had played only 10 games with Coffey when the trade occurred. Meanwhile, Carson had scored a solid 25 goals in 51 games with Detroit, by far his best place in 4 years. But the Kings were an offensive powerhouse and simply did not need more soft and streak-scoring forwards.
I can't wrap my head around it...